Navigating fear: how the pandemic moral regulation affected social control with adverse impacts on Italian society

This chapter will present the management of the SarsCov-2 pandemic emergency in Italy in the first phase of the phenomenon and how the moral panic generated led to the rise of substantial moral regulation in the population. The question is thus posed: how does moral regulation in response to an epoch-making event, albeit the consequence of a “good” moral panic, impact society and what perverse effects can it lead to? In order to try to give a partial answer to the question, an attempt was made to interpret the substantial moral regulation resulting from the “good panic” – that it to say the governmental protective response and its impact on the population in light of the extraordinary event of the pandemic – by exploring some of the negative effects it brings with it, which will be exposed, including a tightening of police surveillance and consequences on domestic violence against women during the lockdown period.